Fluorescent lighting fixture



March 1, 1949. R. M. RUNGE 2,463,057

FLUORESCENT LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed March 51, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR P/CHA/PD M AUNGE ATTORN EY March 1, 1949. R. M. RUNGE 7 FLUORESCENT LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed March 31, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \MGENTOR P/C/M/PD M Run/0E WWW ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 1, 1949 UNITED ST? EN'I' QFFICE FLUORESCENT LIGHTING FIXTURE poration of Connecticut Application March 31, 1945, Serial No. 585,927

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to fluorescent lighting fixtures, and is more particularly directed toward improved means for supporting the lighting fixture reflector from the wiring trough.

Fluorescent lighting equipment is generally provided with some form of downwardly opening wiring trough or wireway which supports all wiring as well as the lamp sockets and has a downwardly removable cover, usually a reflector, which must be held up against the wiring channel so I as to close on the bottom of the wiring channel. The present invention contemplates improved device for this purpose according to which the cover or reflector is at all times held tightly against the wiring trough so as to prevent movement, looseness or rattling of the parts, yet in a manner to permit ready removal, if desired.

According to the present invention, the devices K employed for supporting the cover or reflector are disposed along the central axis of the wiring are illustrative of the invention rather than limiting the same.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective View with parts broken away illustrating a fragment of the wiring channel and channel cover, the latter being moved nearly into position;

Figure 1a is a perspective of a wiring channel and a reflector;

Figure 2 is a perspective View of a fragment of the cover or reflector looking at it from underneath illustrating it secured in position and the grip device in an intermediate position;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 illustrating the grip device in final position;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through a fragment of the wiring channel and reflector;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 66 of Figures 4 and 5 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary elevational view 2 looking in the direction of the arrow of Figure 4; and

Figures 8 and 9 are fragmentary sectional views similar to Figure 4 showing modified forms of construction.

A wiring trough of conventional configuration illustrated at It! and a reflector suitable for a three-lamp fluorescent lighting fixture is illustrated at H. The reflector could be of any suitable contour and is provided at each end with two or three openings such as illustrated at Ila and lib to accommodate two or three fluorescent lamp sockets of the usual form. Such pierced reflectors are common. They are ordinarily made of porcelain enamel sheet metal.

Each reflector is provided with two elongated elevated areas l2, l2 and carry wear plates l3 to protect the porcelain enamel. As these plates, however, are merely for protection and could be omitted, except for the marring of the finish of the reflector, they are not essential to the operation of the present invention. These plates are provided with elongated holes M. A plain wireway cover would have the holes i l.

Each wireway is provided with two welded posts i5, I5 spaced the same as the centers of the openings in the cover or reflector. Each post I5 carries some form of an abutment at its lower end. The abutment l6 shown in Figure 4 is threaded on to the reduced end I? of the post 15 and then this reduced end is upset as indicated.

To facilitate threading the abutment on to the post screw driver slots l8 are provided in the abutment. A spring l9 surrounds the post I5 and is held between the upper surface of the abutment l6 and the inturned end 20 of a tube 2 l. The length of this tube is much shorter than the vertical depth of the deep wiring channel illustrated, so that the same mechanism may be used in wireways of difierent depths,'the only change being in the length of the rod l5.

The lower end 22 of the tube 2| is provided with openings 23 to receive the ends of a grip member 24 which is in the form of a bent wire loop or stamping. The ends 25 of this grip member are adapted to engage the lower face of the abutment. They are flattened as will be apparent from Figure 5. Owing to the upward pressure of the spring IS the flattened ends of the loop are pressed against the lower surface of the abutment l6 and the loop is held in the vertical or pendent position indicated in Figures 1, 4 and 5. The lower end of the tube 2| is preferably just below the level of the bottom of the wireway so as to be available as a guide and centering device operate the same as that at Figure 4.

for the cover or reflector as it is brought up into position.

The loop 24 has two upwardly extending elements 26, 26 which are above the axis 2! of the holes 23 and about which the loop can be turned. When the spring I9 is free to move the tube up the loop 24 can be used as a grip to turn the tube so that the plane of theloop extends longitudinally of the wiring channel and both loops may be placed in this position where they will project directly down as indicated in Figures 1, 4 and 5. To place the reflector. in, position it is then merely necessary to move it upwardly so that the sockets 28 pass through the piercings Ha, llb in the reflector and this will bring the holes M in line with the lower ends 22 of the tubes and grip members 24.

The reflector or cover is then brought up against the bottom flanges of the wiring-channel and held there with one hand while the operator takes hold of one of the grip members 24 with the other hand and pulls it down so that the entire. member is now below thetop wall of the reflector, this position being indicated in the-dotand-dash lines of Figure 4. This compresses the spring l9 and moves the flattened ends of the loop or grip member away from the abutment. The operator can then turn the grip member through 90 to the position shown in Figure 2, whereupon the elements 26, 26 will engage the wear plate (or cover or reflector itself where no wear plate is employed) and the load of the reflector will then be taken by the spring.

To get. the grip member out of the way for the center lamp it is only necessary to turn it on the axis 21, 21 from the. position shown in Figure2 to the position shown inFigure 3. Now the-lower part 24 of the loop and the projecting elements 26, 26 will be on opposite sides of the axis and thespring will retract-slightly and tightly. hold the grip member fiat against the reflector or wear plate. When the parts are in this position there is plenty of room for the lamps such as indicated at 3.0 in Figure 5. It will also be noted that the device has no obstructions to interfere with pulling wires through the wireway, and nothing to-pinch or grab-a wire.

Inthe'modified form of construction illustrated in Figure 8 the abutment 3.1 is held in place by a screw 32 and the grip member 33 ismade'somewhat different from that shown in Figure 4.

Here the end of. the wire is flattened at 35, passed through the holes in the tube 2iafter which the end 36 is bent up as indicated. This device will In the. arrangement shown in Figure 9 the abutment 40 is riveted to the lower end of thepost 44.

Since it is obvious that the invention may-be embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the claims, I wishit. to beunder-- stood that the particular forms shown are but a. few of these forms, and variousmodifications and changes being possible, I do not. otherwise limit. myself in any way with respect thereto.

. What is claimed is:

1-. Incombination, a downwardly opening wireway, a cover for the opening, the cover having a. non-circular aperture, a. post fixedly-carried by the'top of the wireway, extending. toward the aperture and having a rea-rW-ardly facing. abut--' ment, a tube about. the post and having for- --w.ardly facing. abutment above the. first. abutment,

spring means between the .a-butments. for urging the tube upwardly, a grip member revolvable about the post axishprojecting. downwardly from the tube and when in one position passing through the cover aperture, the grip having a configuration which when pulled below the aperture and turned a partial revolution prevents its return.

2. Fluorescent lighting equipment having a downwardly opening wiring trough, a cover for closing the trough and a cover support comprising a vertical trough carried post provided with an abutment, atube movable longitudinally of the post and rotatable about the post, a spring urging the tube upward, a loop pivotally carried by the tube toswing about a horizontal axis and having ends engaging the abutment, the ends being flattened so that the spring tends to hold the loop vertical, the cover having a slot through which the loop may pass when pendent and in predetermined position about the post axis, the material about the slot engaging the loop when turned out of said position to prevent removal of the cover.

3. In a fluorescent lighting fixture having a wireway opening downwardly and a reflecting trough closing thewireway opening and adapted to accommodate three fluorescent lamps side by side with the lamps close to the reflector, the improvement whichcomprises reflector supportsdisposed along. the central axis of the wireway and reflector so as to be above-the central lamp, where used, said supports each comprising a wireway supported post carrying atube spring biased upwardly and rotatable about a vertical axis, and a grip member carried by the bottom of the tube to swing about a horizontal axis, andbeing normally held, vertical by the spring, there being slots in the reflector opposite the posts, the grip members extending through the slots to form grips which may be pulled downwardly to clear the members of the slots, the members and tubes being then rotatable about the post axes so that the members engage the material of the reflector about the. slots, the members then being swingable about the horizontal axis to place them close to the lower surface of the reflector.

4. In combination, a wireway carrying a tube rotatable about a vertical axis, a spring for biasing the tube upwardly, a grip having a horizontal axial portion passing through opposite holes in the lower end of the. tube, the portion inside the tube being flattened, a fixed: stop. inside the tube against which theflattened portion is held bythe spring whereby the grip may be yieldably held against swinging out of a pendent position, the grip having upwardly extending projections outside the tube, a wireway cover having an opening adapted to receive the lower endof the tube and the pendent grip, the gripextendingbelow the cover whereby the entire gripmay be pulledbelow the cover and turned about the vertical axis, to bring the upwardly extending portionsout of. line with the opening and opposite. the material of the cover, the grip then being movable about the horizontal axis so that it may be swung, to a horizontal position to. lie close to the cover and be held against-movement. by the spring.

5. The combination with a downwardly opening wireway andacover for the opening, the cover having an elongated slot, of a cover supporting device which comprises apostcarried by the. wireway, an abutment carried by the lower end of the post,.a tube ab outthe post and abutment, a spring urging the tube upwardly, the tube. having holes opposite one another at the lower end, a grip extending through the holes in the tube and flattened. inside the tube, the spring holding the flattened portion against the abutment and the grip pendent, the vertical length oithe parts being such that, when the reflector is moved to a position to close the wireway the loop projects part way through the slot for gripping, the spring being has arms extending above the holes in the tube adapted to engage the cover when the grip is in the disaligned position, the grip being swingable about the horizontal axis formed by said holes to place the upper and lower ends of the grip close to the cover.

7. A releasable support for a normally horizontal plate having a non-circular opening comprising a tube supported for movement along and about a vertical axis, a spring urging the tube upwardly, a horizontally swingable grip member having a non-circular axle portion extending across the bottom of the tube, a stop against which the spring acting on the tube brings said axle portion to position the grip member vertical, the grip member in that portion having a configuration to pass through the non-circular opening in the plate and extending part way through the plate, the grip when pulled completely below the plate being revolvable about the vertical axis to disalign it from the opening and free of the stop, the grip having an upwardly extending element adapted to engage the plate adjacent the opening, the grip being movable about the axial portion so that the upper and lower portions are on opposite sides of the axle portion and are held by the spring against the plate.

8. In combination, a wiring trough open at the bottom, a post extending vertically downward from the top wall of the trough, an abutment of larger diameter than the post carried at its lower end and terminating above the level of the opening in its bottom, a rotary and reciprocable tube about the abutment, a grip member having a horizontal axle portion extending through the tube below the abutment to limit the upward movement of the tube and being flattened, a spring about the post and acting on the tube to urge it upwardly to bring the flattened portion against the abutment, the grip having radially extending portions outside the tube which are then disposed in a vertical plane so as to project downwardly below the tube, and a wiring trough cover having a slotted opening through which the lower end of the tube and the grip may project when the cover is moved up to the bottom of the trough, the spring being compressible to permit pulling the grip below the cover where the grip and tube can be turned about the post axis.

RICHARD M. RUNGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNi 1 ED STATES PATENTS 

